Meditation for Everyone

Mediation is the one practice that helps everyone in one way or the other. People meditate for various reasons. Some people meditate for peace in mind while some others meditate to manifest what they want in their lives. But, what is meditation? What do you do while meditating? Why do some people find it so hard to meditate? How can I silence the mind? Can I learn meditation? What is the real outcome of meditation? You can make meditation a habit easily.

Happiness is meditation

All of us want to be happy. Yet, few of us choose happiness. People feel, to be happy they need to achieve something. A person who came to me many years ago purchased a house. A few years later, his satisfaction evaporated. So, he bought another house and a land. His purchasing spree got him stressed due to the accumulation of loans. Then, he went abroad to earn more so that he can pay back the loans faster.

Another person purchased a house. Then, he saved money for his daughters\’ education and marriage expenses. Yet, he is unable to overcome his fear of the future.

Happiness is a choice. There is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do to be happy. However, if you choose happiness, what ever you do, will bring happiness to you.

Why Meditate?

Whenever we travel outstation on a holiday, and we choose to drive, we use a GPS. The GPS guides us at every turn and gives us all the information we need to navigate to our destination.

Meditation helps us tune our inner senses to our internal DDS (Divine Directing System). We all need direction. We don\’t know whether what we are doing is taking us to the next step. Even though our intention is good, the consequences of our actions alone will let us know what comes out of our effort. Then comes the error correction steps. Forever, we keep acting and reacting and reacting. It goes on.

My mentor the cardiologist

My mentor is a certified and qualified cardiologist, though, he doesn\’t practice cardiology anymore. He has been practicing being in meditation from his pre-teen years. In his days of writing the cardiology examination, he would connect to his Higher Consciousness to be helped in remembering the answers to the questions. He said, God helped him write his exam. When the results were announced, he had scored the highest percentile ever scored in the history of that exam.

So, unless we have a guiding lighthouse, we are not sure what is the most appropriate way of getting ahead in life. And, when we connect with the lighthouse, our lives will be safe and successful.

Our trip to Badrinath

Many year ago, when my wife and I along with our 6 year old daughter, were traveling to Badrinath, a temple in the Himalayas. We were in Delhi ISBT (Inter State Bus Terminal). We were seated in a bus that was to take us to our next stop, Rishikesh. I had been practicing meditation for over 10 years then. I believe most women, like my wife, are always in meditation. They just don\’t use their ability consciously.

There was another bus next to ours which was empty. After a few minutes, I felt a voice speak in my head which said, get into the bus to your left. I told my wife about this and she said, she too her the same in her head. So, we alighted from this bus and got into the one on our left.

Did we miss our bus!

We had just about boarded the bus when, the bus we alighted from started off for Rishikesh.

When you have to reach your destination, you always catch the earliest transport available. Our feelings were no different. We felt, we should\’ve been in that bus. We settled down. After about half hour, close to midnight, our bus started off. To our horror, we realised that the front windshield of the bus was missing. The driver was reckless. And traffic was terrible. We held on. So, we wrapped our daughter in a shawl and cuddled her so that she can stay warm. Both of us couldn\’t sleep due to the rattling sounds of the bus.

At about 2:30am, we found several people signalling this bus to stop. Our driver kept driving past these people. What we saw was something I will never forget. The bus we alighted from, had stopped mid way. The passengers were stuck without a transport. We were protected by Him.

From my experience, I can narrate countless instances where I have received inner guidance to do a task in a particular way so that we can get the best outcomes.

You too would\’ve experienced such moments. Meditation just makes such moments occur many times everyday. Isn\’t that a reason enough to meditate everyday?

Is Meditation difficult?

Many people have told me that they try to meditate but, find it difficult to sit in meditation for more than 15 minutes. Meditation is letting go of control. If you want to reach your destination safely and successfully, allow your Inner guidance or God to take charge of the steering wheel. In the beginning it seems difficult because you seem you just lost direction, lost control. It seems frightening to not have control. Practice will help you settle into this feeling of being unsure about everything. You were listening to the mind which was unsure of about everything. And that habit is what you will be staring at. The only sure thing, when you are meditating, is that, you become a keen listener to His direction. That alone make your journey safe and sure.

Learn Meditation

There are literally countless techniques to meditation. All techniques lead you to the same God. I will elaborate on a few techniques that anyone can practice to get into a habit of meditation easily.

[ps2id id=\’Thumb-Meditation\’ target=\’\’/]Thumb Meditation

This is the mother of all meditations. I have mentioned in another blog about this meditation. You can learn the method of thumb meditation from here.

The thumb meditation is so powerful that merely observing your thumb for close to just 30 minutes can get your meditation to become so powerful that a single thought can manifest instantly. I have experienced this happen whenever I practice it.

[ps2id id=\’So-Hum\’ target=\’\’/]So-Hum Meditation

The So-hum meditation is another powerful practice of meditation that can get you intoxicated within a few minutes.

Preparation for Meditation:

Wear loose fitting clothes for meditation. My mentor suggested that you keep separate clothes for meditation. Cotton that is thin and porous is best.

Place of Meditation:

Choose a calm and quiet place to meditate. Sit in the same place everyday. Everything is about tuning in. Your subconscious will tune in to that place to engage with the Inner Self when you choose the same place day after day.

Time of Meditation:

The best time to meditate is between 3am-6am. If you can\’t wake up at this time, try to sit in meditation at sunrise. As the sounds around you increase, it will be a challenge to sit in meditation.

Meditation Posture:

Sit with you back neck and head straight and in alignment. If you find it difficult to keep your back straight, raise your sit bones by placing a cushion under your seat.

Visualisation during Meditation:

Imagine you are sitting in the centre of a golden circle of light. This light is always protecting you.

Beginning your meditation:

Begin your meditation by chanting Aum three times. This is not a religious practice. The vibration and the buzz produced in your head by chanting Aum quietens the mind. However, if you have religious preferences, you can also choose to chant Aaaaa three times.

Positioning your eyeballs during Meditation:

From my experience, I have realised that when your eye balls move around, the mind wanders. So, I fix my eye balls position downward. Do not look at your nose! That\’ll give you a headache. Just position your eyeballs downward. While meditating, if your eye balls tend to lift up and your mind wanders, which will happen anyways, simply bring your eye balls and reposition them downward. Have patience. The mind will quieten down as you practice everyday.

Breathing in Meditation:

Breathing must be natural. Do not breathe deeply. When the mind calms down, your breathing will become slow, deep and rhythmic. As you breathe in, mentally chant Soooo…. and when you breathe out, chant hummm…. Just keep this consistent.

Maypole Meditation

Maypole Meditation is yet another simple but powerful meditation to get back to feeling love within. The maypole meditation technique is healing in many ways. The maypole meditation practice is described in detail here.

Cosmic Tree Meditation

When we are being raised, our parents support us. When we grow up and take life head on, we tend to hold unto other things which we believe will support us. It may be money or assets, person or your job. However, none of them measure upto to a permanent support and that\’s what we really need. The Cosmic tree meditation provides that permanent support. You can download the Cosmic Tree Audio Guide to practice this meditation.

Commitment:

Commit yourself to sit in meditation for a minimum of 15-20 minutes to start with. Sit everyday. Create this new habit from today. Do not give up meditation for anything.

Do not expect any outcome from meditation. Your expectation will make the mind create worries in your mind. Do you hurry your meditation. It is all about staying there. Everything will happen. Learn to enjoy the moment in meditation.

— Mahesh Krishnamurthy